Zero tolerance in Schools

smithjake1991 · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **smithjake1991** on Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:33 am

I was wondering what everyone's opinion is about Zero tolerance policies in schools. There have been cases where a student leaves in handcuffs for not getting off a bus and gets expelled,a special education kid faces felony charges for making terroristic threats whereas a kid steals from lockers or pulls down pants and gets a slap on the wrist by the adminstration. I personally am against them. I am against them because common sense does not come into play and schools act quickly with little or lack of evidence and kids get in trouble because of it and often times being too severe.School Administration and teachers often use biases towards particular students because they are a champion or they play sports which happens alot in some situations.Often times, a repeat offender might get a slap on the wrist whereas kids who do a simple thing are charged,expelled or handcuffed. The kids lose learning time which is vital because if a school is not meeting AYP, it is failing as per the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB). A good aspect of No Child Left Behind is that if a school is deemed "unsafe", then students have the right to transfer to another school. One of the problems with the aspect is that kids often times will transfer and a bully follows them to that school which is what happened to my friend who was expelled for something he did not do at one school and the kid who got him in trouble at the first school punches him and only he is expelled from the district. I do not like the No Child Left Behind act since students learn different ways and the brightest sometimes choke on tests. Another problem is that if an adminstration is misusing its authority, they cannot get fired unless they do not meet AYP for 5 years which is too long of a window as a kid commits something as an 8th grade and gets expelled for it. Senior year comes, he drops out and his friends and bullies walk.Another key problem is that a school can yield a high graduation rate and be "failing" whereas a school that skates by can be "passing". Anyways, I hope for a clean discussion. You do not need to cite your experiences but you must cite experiences of others unless it cannot be found online. You can also say (for example) I am con-NCLB and Con-Zero tolerance since this can be a discussion of the No Child Left Behind act as well. You can be for one,for both or against both.

Vain · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Vain** on Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:46 am

I'm against schools over actually because they stifle the creativity of the truly gifted. Besides, I think it's kinda funny that not to long ago it was "giving kids a head start" and now its "no child left behind." Head start, left behind, someone's losing ground here.

uter · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **uter** on Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:43 am

Zero tolerance policies will never work, simply because they fail to account for circumstances. The American education system is in the toilet, and unless the taxpayers are willing to pay more, it will never get better. Socialism isn't a bad thing, your taxes are higher, but you get more social programs, like free healthcare and better schools.

Paradigm · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Paradigm** on Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:09 pm

The traditional "brick-and-mortar" school system is outdated all-together much less "zero tolerance."

Lukisod · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Lukisod** on Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:05 pm

It is a lazy law. It was directly meant to sound tough on students (so people would vote for it) and at the same time, create a zero effort solution for the school administration. Now instead of dealing with the "he said she said" and wading through what actually happened and creating a fair judgment. They can simply state both parties are in violation of zero tolerance and kick them both. Nothing more is required from the administration and honestly, what do these principles and teachers care anymore? They're just another pair of punk kids this new generation has produced which do not respect the law or authority. Jail time should be good for them right?

Apathy of teachers and principles. The students are basically told they have one strike and you've failed, for 12-20 years of their lives. A strike which may or may not be of their own doing. My kids are being home schooled.

dealing with it · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **dealing with it** on Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:27 pm

Schools have a very twisted sense of what the perfect human being is like. The twisted ethic of the "perfect student" is absurd. I wouldn't want to be one. On top of that weird ideal, punishing people for making trivial mistakes is something that just kind of floats out there in space. The American school system is completely detached from reality, and from wisdom.

Solo Wing Pixy · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Solo Wing Pixy** on Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:34 pm

Did anyone notice how old this was before Uter posted?

I suppose that since we're still talking about it, I can add my three cents.

Zero tolerance policies are a bad idea in any setting. One of the main reasons why we have an flexible system of law(in most countries, anyway), is so that in special cases, people aren't punished unfairly. A zero tolerance law or policy essentially negates that by making a blanket rule that fails to address the circumstances at hand. This can lead to negative consequences even for law-abiding citizens, such as the recent surge of underage pornography on reddit's askreddit section. Administrators would have to remove links and ban accounts of anyone who was even accused of posting links to such material without even confirming that the links actually contained it. They had to, because zero tolerance laws in many places made it illegal to view the material, even if you were confirming what it was. Anyone accused is automatically guilty, because no one can check authenticity.

Even if the policies have good intentions, they are usually just lazy writing with poor execution.

EmmalineCason · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **EmmalineCason** on Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:48 pm

My brother got recommended for expulsion last year for having plastic BBs for a BB Gun in his pocket yet he knew of a kid that had a knife in his locker. It's terrible the way the school system is. My brother was suspended for the smallest of infractions. Making paper stars when he was finished with his work, drawing on a sheet of paper when he was finished. He was ADHD and even had a 504 Plan but the teachers didn't do squat and suspended him for being quiet while everyone else worked. It seemed a little contradictory. The school system for the US is a complete and utter disaster.

brighteyedbelle · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **brighteyedbelle** on Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:09 am

As a teacher in a "second chance" setting for students who have fallen victim to zero tolerance policies, I have to say that I am 100% against it. I'm not sure exactly how to elaborate, but in my experience, students who have made mistakes have the ability to correct them. Zero tolerance is the lazy way out.

mad_gater · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **mad_gater** on Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:01 pm

brighteyedbelle wrote:As a teacher in a "second chance" setting for students who have fallen victim to zero tolerance policies, I have to say that I am 100% against it. I'm not sure exactly how to elaborate, but in my experience, students who have made mistakes have the ability to correct them. Zero tolerance is the lazy way out.

I concur. Another example of how stupid they are is that for the drug-related ZT policies they make no distinction between the drugs that serve a medicinal purpose (like expelling a kid for having antibiotics or glucose tablets to combat hypoglycemia on his person or a girl who has motrin on her person to combat the excruciating pain from their "time of month" issues) and ones that don't

and I think kids should be allowed at the very least a non-lethal weapon (like pepper spray) on their person to defend themselves....because bullies aren't stupid.....they're gonna wait until they can get their intended victim out of eyesight of school staff before working him over

TheCoriProject · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **TheCoriProject** on Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:32 am

It seems to me like schools are getting a little extreme nowadays. Some of the policies in place at my high school are kind of ridiculous. At least ten kids get expelled every year for silly reasons, and most of the time they hardly did anything bad. It's starting to get harsh, where the first mistakes are seen as the last straw.

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